


I can see for miles and miles

by NatalieRyan



Series: Cold Open Challenge [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 1x06, Cold Open Challenge, Comforting Jack, Episode Related, Extended Cold Open, Gen, Hurt Mac, Hurt/Comfort, Not a Crossover, Protective Jack, just a headcanon of mine, mention of events happening in the CSI S5 finale, wrench - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25130830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatalieRyan/pseuds/NatalieRyan
Summary: Extended cold open for 1x06  - WrenchPart 2 of the Cold Open Challenge.The team has to take a slight detour before exfil.
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Cold Open Challenge [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818604
Comments: 22
Kudos: 61





	I can see for miles and miles

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to day two of the challenge.  
> I'm extremely happy to share this one with you, because the idea came right after I chose 1x03 as my first prompt. I absolutely fell for this cold open the first time I saw it and after so many times watching the ep, I kinda headcanonned the "buried alive" dream was a nod to Grave Danger (CSI S5 finale). Hence why I have a bit of this fic mentioning some of the events happening in that ep.  
> Now, if you noticed in my car crash fic, I wrote a little bit about cousin Nick (it was a tiny little thing, really) and my headcanon is since Nick and Jack looked alike so much, people thought they were twins. Soooo, the idea of Mac meeting Nick is plausible, even (San Diego, anyone?), so I went from there. Then this happened. And I loved every second of writing this fic.  
> The first thing that was written for this story was the talk between Mac and Jack, and I built the rest of it around that part. The initial idea was with Mac's ears bleeding from the explosion and that it should work since he didn't have his hands free to cover his ears.  
> As for the location, in the cold open it said somewhere in Eastern Europe, so I chose Romania and went with it. Even if it's wrong, this is fan fic.  
> Edit by me.  
> Endless thanks to Sabby once again for the help and hearing me scream about this story in particular.  
> Title, same as yesterday, a song by "The Who" (also the theme song for CSI: Cyber).  
> Enjoy!

"Oh Mac, I could kiss you right now, buddy." 

"Just knowing you wanna do it is enough, thanks."

"Can we just go home now, please?"

"Yeah."

"Absolutely."

Jack was glad Riley asked the right question because he was so ready to go home. 

Until Mac didn't almost end up face down in the ground and started coughing when some of the dirt entered his nose and mouth in his attempt to stay upright. 

Jack was on immediate alert, scrambling to his feet and sitting next to Mac. Mac had his ears covered with his hands, and Jack had a faint idea of what was happening to Mac. Jack lifted Mac in a sitting position. Mac's head was lolling from side to side until Jack braced one of his hands on Mac's neck.

"Hey buddy, what's wrong?" Jack was careful not to yell, because it was apparent Mac had trouble with his ears. The last thing Mac needed was Jack to use his loud and boisterous voice. 

"My… my ears. It hurts." 

"Your ears hurt? Will you let me see?" 

Mac was clearly in a lot of pain, Jack noticed when he looked more carefully at his partner. 

Mac's eyes were closed, his face was pinched, creases forming next to his closed eyes and on his forehead. It looked just like when Mac had one of his migraines and Jack knew that he had to brace himself for days of miserable and cranky Mac ahead of him. 

Nothing he hadn't handled before. 

"Can you take your hands off your ears so I can see the damage, bud?" 

Mac opened his eyes then and twin baby blues looked at him, with worry and was that fear in Mac's eyes?

"Is there something you haven't said? Hurt anywhere else? Mac, talk to me. Can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." 

Mac mumbled something intelligible and after Jack staring at him, Mac relented and dropped his hands. 

That's when Jack noticed the blood. 

"Oh, Mac." 

"Please don't be mad." 

The pleading tone surprised Jack that carefully inspected Mac's ears. He concluded that the explosion and the pressure from the enclosed space were guilty for the blood and pain.

"Why would I be mad?" 

"Because I'm bleeding. I didn't tell you." 

"I'm not mad, Mac. I'm just worried. Sorry that it hurts." 

"You sure you are not mad?" 

"I'm pretty sure if I was, you would have heard about it by now. I'm not exactly quiet when my partner doesn't tell me stuff now, am I?" 

"True." 

Mac smiled and Jack counted that as a win. But as soon as that smile appeared, it disappeared twice as fast. Mac whimpered, his face twinging in pain and Jack immediately went to hug him. It wasn't much, but he hoped that it offered some relief from the pain.

Suddenly, Jack got an idea. It was something his mom did with him when he was a kid. Jack was scared from thunder and lightning and his mom closed his ears whenever one hit, with her own hands and put Jack's head on her belly. She waited it out with him and it didn't entirely block the sound of the storm outside, but knowing she was there with him, inhaling her scent, calmed Jack. 

Jack smiled at the fond memory he had of his mom and he knew there was nothing else he could do for the time being. 

"Hey, Mac. Can you stand?" 

"Yeah, why?" 

"We need to get to a safer spot in case someone decides to come back for us. Something tells me they won't, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right? Ri, can you call Patty for me, tell her what happened and that I need the location of the closest hospital?" 

"Yeah." 

Once they approached what looked like a good spot to lay low until they got coordinates for a hospital, Jack, Mac and Riley set up camp. 

Jack decided it was as good a time as any to mention his plan. 

"Mac? I have a proposition to make." 

Mac lifted his head wearily to look at Jack, eyes squinting.

"What?" 

"I know that it won't offer much comfort, but when I was a kid, my mama used to put her hands over my ears to shield me from the sound of thunder. And I know you are beyond the age and the blocking phase sound. Just, I thought it would be good if I did that while we waited. Offer some relief."

Mac looked skeptical, but after a while he nodded. 

"Now, put your head like this, yeah, just like that. You are safe, I'm here. You'll be okay. I'm placing my hands on your ears now, okay?" 

"Okay."

Jack sighed in relief when he felt Mac burrowing in the soft tissue of his belly, the weight of Mac's head a welcome reprieve from the thoughts that Jack had ever since they started this mission. 

"You'll be okay, bud. I'm not gonna let anything else happen to you." 

Jack murmured things to comfort himself as much as Mac while Riley watched from a safe distance. Jack knew that she didn't know Mac as well as Jack did, but she understood they needed a bit of privacy when they had to gather themselves. 

Mac was hurting and Jack was offering comfort. Jack was afraid to let his brain go to all the times he did the same with Riley when she was younger. He was sure Riley was thinking the same, if her glassy eyes and faraway look were anything to go by. Jack wanted to talk to her, melt whatever it was between them that was frozen, and start anew. He loved that girl like his own and he knew he made a mistake when he left all those years ago. But Riley wasn't letting him in and Jack was left with nothing to work with than see Riley at work and exchange words that were nothing more than courtesy between co-workers. He was getting desperate for a change in that situation, but had no idea how to cross that bridge. And something told him that Riley should be the one to make the first step. The last thing Jack wanted was to force his hand and lose her, again. 

Jack sighed and without being aware of it his fingers started moving in soothing patterns behind Mac's ears and through blond strands.

"How are you doing, hoss?" 

"Been better." was the muffled answer that came from Mac. 

"Hang on. Just a little bit more." 

It was then when Riley's phone pinged with a message. 

"We have the hospital coordinates." 

"You hear that, buddy? Let's get you to the hospital." 

Together, the three of them started the trek to find a vehicle. 

…

They found an inconspicuous vehicle and after Jack successfully hotwired it, he got behind the wheel and stepped on the gas. Small whimpers could be heard from the back of the car where Mac and Riley sat. Those whimpers were breaking Jack's heart. He wanted nothing more than to get in the backseat and hold Mac, offer some comfort. He almost stopped the car and asked Riley to drive, but what was supposed to be a forty minutes drive, Jack made it in twenty, so there was no need. 

After Mac was admitted, and that was as far as they'd let Jack in, Jack and Riley were left waiting. Jack used that time to call Bozer and tell him that Mac caught the flu and they didn't want to let him come home, yet. He hated that he had to lie to Bozer, but Mac was in no state to make any calls in the near future so if Jack took the burden off of his shoulders, it was nothing he hadn't done before. Jack would let Mac call Bozer when Mac felt better. 

Jack cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders a bit to ease the tension. He also hated waiting. As a sniper he was trained to be patient. But when Mac was in the hospital for whatever it was that happened to his partner, all the patience Jack had, it just evaporated. 

Luckily a doctor came to see them. After explaining that Mac had slightly ruptured ear drums and that he wouldn't recommend flying for a while, he told them they wouldn't keep Mac for observation and that Mac was free to go.

When Mac emerged out of the room where he was treated, he looked even more miserable and Jack's heart ached for him. 

Jack had already started to make plans for a stay. There was no way he was gonna subject the kid to flying when he was in the state he was in.

Mac tried to protest when Jack mentioned it, but one stern look had him shutting his protests. Riley didn't look phased in the least, and Jack smiled internally. She still remembered then. It wasn't the first time Jack used said stern look. 

While Mac tried to be his "best scowling grounded pupil" self, Jack got behind the wheel and started the car. 

"Ri, do me a favor and call Patty again and give the phone to me. Here." Jack handed Riley his phone.

Jack drove aimlessly while waiting for Thornton to pick up. 

_ "Tell me you are all okay." _ was the first thing that got out of her mouth. 

"Hello to you, too, director. We are all good, but we'll have to take a detour." 

Patty sighed. 

_ "What kind of a detour, Dalton?"  _

"The one where we need to delay exfil for two, possibly three days." 

_ "Absolutely not! I can't afford you to be there for so long. I won't allow that-"  _

"You can and you will. Mac can't fly for the moment and I'm not leaving him, so deal with it." 

Jack could listen to Patty's heavy breathing over the phone. She was pissed, Jack knew, but she also knew that all bets were off when Mac was injured and needed to be taken care of. 

"Jack, I'm-" Jack could hear Mac trying to protest once again from the backseat. 

"Mac, we talked about this. What did the doctor say? No flying for a while."

Just then Patty gave him her attention again. 

_ "Fine. But on one condition. Riley comes home immediately. I'm already pulling exfil coordinates."  _

"Okay. I'm going to drive us there, see Riley off to exfil and then I'm taking Mac to a safe house. We have one of those here, right?" 

_ "Are you out of your mind?" _ Patty was now screaming in his ear and Jack had to pull the phone off of his ear. 

Mac chuckled and Jack had to smile. Him and Patty always had epic fights that amused Mac to no end. 

"No, I'm perfectly fine. You have my latest eval, you'd know if I didn't have all screws bolted in place." 

_ "Don't be a smartass with me, Dalton." _

"I'm not. And we are not talking about any alternatives either. We can't exactly go to a motel without any IDs on us." 

_ "Are you sure you two can't hop on the plane?" _

"Patty, I'm not discussing this. He is not to fly, under no circumstances, until he feels better. Non negotiable." 

"I'm fine, Jack." Mac tried once again, and this time Jack glared at him through the overhead mirror. 

"You are not 'fine', Mac. And whatever you want to add on top of that, it better be that you'll follow the doctor's orders. Or I'm gonna return you to that hospital myself. Are we clear?" 

"Jack-" 

"Are we clear?" 

"Fine." 

Mac looked like a sulking teenager with his messy hair and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was trying to glare, but failed miserably because all that Mac managed was to look like a kicked puppy. 

"Now that we all agreed on this, I suggest we get moving." 

_ "Jack, I can't risk you staying in Romania for too long-"  _

"Patricia! We are done discussing this! Now, find us a damn safehouse. Otherwise I'm going to find one myself." 

_ "Okay, fine. Get Riley to exfil and I'll find you a safehouse."  _

"Thanks." 

Mac was silent the whole ride to exfil. Once Riley was on the plane and Jack started the car towards the coordinates Patty sent to his phone, Jack decided that it was as good a time as any to apologize to Mac.

"Sorry for my outburst earlier. I'm gonna say it again, I'm not mad at you. But, you are hurt, Mac, and I'd do anything to prevent you from hurting more. Understand?" 

Mac was still silent, but nodded. 

"Now, tell me how you really feel. No need to act tough in front of Riley anymore." 

There was a twitch on Mac's lips that almost resembled a smile and Jack knew he was right. 

"I'm okay. Really. My ears are hurting, but not as bad as earlier. I have a headache, but not a strong one."

"Good. We are heading to the safe house. In the meantime you can start telling me how you learned the hard way about the explosion that could save your life." 

Mac groaned. 

…

The safe house wasn't anything more than a little house with only one room, bathroom and adjoining living room and kitchen. Jack carefully set Mac to rest on the bed while he searched for supplies to make them something to eat. Jack knew they were both wired and wouldn't be able to sleep for a while so Jack made two strong coffees and whipped up a late lunch/dinner meal. 

Once they polished off the food, and drank their coffees, Mac settled on the bed again while Jack sat in a chair next to the bed, ever the guard. He could see Mac was thinking. 

It wasn't long before Mac turned to face him, a question in his eyes. 

"Go ahead." 

Mac blushed and cleared his throat. 

"I was thinking…"

"That much I figured." 

"I wanted to ask you something." 

"Yeah?"

"What you said earlier. About dreaming of being buried alive. Is there something I should know about? It felt awfully kinda true to be just a dream." 

Jack huffed a laugh. Mac knew him too well. 

"Are you for real now?" 

"I can tell when it's just a dream where you 'die' versus a dream where you just think you die and that wasn't it." 

"You are too damn perceptive for your own good." 

Mac hummed in agreement. 

"Was it you?" 

"No, it was Nicky." 

"Nicky? Your cousin Nick? Oh my God." 

"Yeah." 

Jack sighed. 

"He was kidnapped and buried alive by a psychopath back in Vegas. I was on a job in Peru when I got the call from aunt Jillian and I think that mission went in a haze. Requested time off immediately and headed back to the ranch when it was all over." 

"What happened?" 

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me." 

"Nah, it's okay. It's actually eleven years now since that thing happened, and it should be easier to say it, but..." 

"When it's going to get easier for us to talk about Cairo, I'm sure it will be for Nick, too." 

Jack shook his head. He couldn't believe the kid. Just a few hours ago he was in agony of how much his ears hurt from the explosion. 

"You are right. It'll never get easy." 

"But it will get bearable." 

"Yes, it will. At least I hope it is for him. Haven't talked about that with him in a while. Don't wanna open old wounds and all that. You know, we can actually try and see if he has some time off when we get back home. Get together at your house or go to his place." 

"Good idea. I'm sure he'll like the company. Oh man, can you imagine Bozer and Riley meeting him? We'll probably have to defrost Boze and cool Riley down because Boze's brain will completely freeze-" 

"- and Riley's will short circuit and the short fuse will cause a fire. Yeah, I think those two occasions should happen at different times, thank you very much. Strong reactions and all that." 

"Oh yeah. I still can't get over the fact that I spoke with Nick for over an hour and didn't know it wasn't you." 

"You were drugged to the gills after the blast you survived and that shrapnell that got embedded in your calf. Your senses were off." 

"It was fun because he was like a broken VHS tape. I think we scared the poor guy." 

"Nah, he's seen some things himself so I think he was properly flabbergasted, not scared." 

"True." 

Mac went silent and Jack thought he went to sleep, but could see a restless leg bouncing under the blanket covering his partner. 

Jack put an arm on top of Mac's knee and the bouncing stopped. Mac looked at him and Jack could swear lying in a bed shaved at least five years off of Mac's age.

Jack sighed. It was better to tell the story now and rip the bandaid off than wait. 

"I'll spare you the gory details, because I don't want you to have nightmares about it as well. He was kidnapped at a crime scene, one that was staged so the guy could get to him. And there was a ransom note and all." 

"But it wasn't just any kidnapping." 

"Look at ya'. You can be a detective or something." 

"Maybe in another life I could." 

"And no, it wasn't just any kidnapping. The ransom was just a decoy. I heard the guy blew himself up before Nick's supervisor could talk to him." 

"Jesus." 

"Yeah. And for things to be more cruel he sent them a link with a live video of Nick-" 

Jack had to stop before he got emotional over the next part. Mac didn't have to know about that. They had enough nightmares on their own, no need to add ants on the list of it. Besides, Mac had a bad case of arachnophobia as it was.

"That's cruel and sick, man. On so many levels." 

"No need to worry your pretty head of yours about it, though." 

"Just imagine if any of you had to go through that with-" 

"Don't even finish that sentence, Mac, or else I swear… I didn't tell you this so you can use it on your own."

"Sorry, sorry." 

Mac went silent for a while and stayed that way. After a while, his breathing evened out and Jack sighed. Finally the kid was resting.

Jack carefully moved to the other end of the bed, deciding it was a good idea to take a power nap before the kid was undoubtedly woken up by a nightmare.

The bed creaked when Jack sat on it and he cringed at the loud sound it made in the otherwise silent room. He debated if he should proceed when he felt a hand on his own. 

Mac was looking at him sleepily, a silent request in his eyes that Jack understood. 

"Scoot." 

Mac obliged and when Jack settled, Mac burrowed himself in Jack's side, Jack's arms wrapping themselves automatically around the young man. He vowed to protect Mac a long time ago, no matter what happened. 

"Thanks, J'ck." Mac added to the fabric of Jack's blouse. 

"Don't mention it. Go to sleep, kiddo. I got you." 

"You always do. Have my back, I mean." 

"Always will." 

Jack found himself running a hand on Mac's back and before long Mac was asleep. Jack smiled and closed his eyes, letting himself rest as well. With Mac's presence next to him, knowing Mac was safe and okay, Jack drifted off to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> _Thoughts? ___


End file.
